FOTD

Today it is just my Brother, Amber and I going to the animal farm then home to make pancakes! I loooove pancakes, I just hope I don't eat too many of them!

A pretty simple face of today:

Face:

Korres Silicone free Primer

Youngblood Liquid Foundation - Sunkissed

Bobbi Brown Corrector - Light Bisque

Bobbi Brown Concealer - Natural Tan

MAC MSF Natural - Medium

W7 - Honolulu Bronzer

Rouge Bunny Rouge blush - Habanera

Korres Eyebrown Pencil - Medium

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Loreal Infallible Eyeshadow - Sahara Treasure

MAC Eyeshadow - Carbon

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner - Zero

YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils Mascara

Lips:

Becca Lip Pencil - Nougat

NARS Lipstick - Mayflower.

A pretty made up look for going to an animal farm, but I am still in my good mood today so why not make an effort! :)

P.S. Ive lost nearly a stone and feeling great about it! Can you tell!? No probably not... haha

Happy Pancake Day!!

Bright Nails & Tanning.

Two of my favourite things to do when I am feeling hormonal or a bit rubbish is to tan myself and paint my nails a bright colour. Come morning I instantly feel better somehow! I am in such a good mood right now I even felt like blogging!

My tan of choice is Laurens Way Mousse, its still my favourite tan! It goes on so well, but comes off so evenly, given that its quite a dark colour I am very impressed with it! Its one I always reach for. I still use my trusty St. Moriz for my hands and face though and my husband is becoming a real pro at tanning my back for me! *Score!*

For my nails I have been loving Essie nail polishes recently, I only have 3, but those 3 I am really loving right now, they last forever on my nails!

Essie: No Boundries 

I bought this colour from ASOS in the sale, which as luck would have it is no longer showing on their site. It is showing on their Purples and Mauves section... but I would definitely say this is a pink! 

I am thinking of getting the Essie Spring 2012 colour range, I am loving all of them!

Its a very pretty colour, perfect for good mood days and summer times!

What gets you in a good mood? What Essie polishes do you love?

Chanel Rouge Coco Chintz and FOTN

Lately I have been buying lipsticks like they are going out of fashion and one of my recent purchases is Chanel's Chintz, a light peachy pink that I am absolutely loving right now! I really like Chanel lipsticks at the moment as they give a gorgeous satin finish and dont dry my lips out.

I have found this shade so hard to photograph  with a lack of decent daylight so I may have to do this post again at some stage. 

It is a lovely pale peachy pink, but on my lips it definitely pulls more pink. I thought I was going to end up with some kind of muted or nude lips, but that wasn't the case at all unless I heavily smothered it all over my lips. its nice and natural looking.

We just went out last night with a few friends to the pub, I didn't want to put too much effort into the makeup, so Chintz went very nicely with my look for the night. 

I recreated this look this morning so you can see what it looks like in the daylight.

What Chanel lipsticks do you love or want?

Weleda Pomegranate Body Oil

During the winter months, the skin on my body seems to really suffer and become dry and flaky, to combat this I prefer to use body oils instead of lotions or butters as I find they are lighter on the skin and give it a much more youthful appearance.

I have been favouring this particular body oil for a while now and I discovered this morning that's it is totally finished... How did I not notice that?! After a shower I normally put a but of this on, I try to use it sparingly but sometimes I always ended up pouring far too much out, which meant my skin was too 'glowy' for my liking. Also, I learnt by my own mistakes, don't let your hair down during the day when you have this on, if your hair touches your skin, it's going to get greasy.

Sometimes I prefer to put this on at night, when I wake up I have the softest skin I have ever felt! Until I shower of course. This is a regenerating body oil so over time it is meant to help with skin regeneration if your skin is looking a little less than glowing and beautiful. I love how my skin looks when I apply this, I would go as far as to make sure I put it on before a night out! with no glitter or agin met particles in sight, just my own moisturised skin.

I will definitely repurchase this oil, but until then I would like to try out a few more to see how they compare.

Do any of you wear body oils? Any recommendations for me?!

30 Day Ab Challenge! Results...

Yea so I tried my best.... I am not where I want to be but with a bit more healthy eating and working out I can get there... I know I can!

30 Days of healthy eating and regular exercise leads to this.

Before:

Now:

I have noticed that my belly button is a bit more noticeable... my "muffin tops" are not so big and im getting a bit of definition. To me looking at this, I dont see much of a difference, but its showing in my jeans... I have room!

I have been eating healthy food, drinking a lot of water, eating plenty of fibre and trying to not eat carbs after 3pm... thats probably the hardest part, I dont know what to eat thats not potato or pasta related for dinner. I have been 'cheating' by eating rubbish every now and again as I dont want to go all out healthy, lose weight then ease back into eating the foods I really like and put on all the weight again.

I have been upping my cardio more than anything as it is the one thing I struggle most with and doing Tracy Andersons Mat Workout regularly, around 3-4 times a week. It is simply amazing, the shape of my body is totally changing, I cant believe it! I give all the credit to her workout to help trim down my hips and muffin tops. 

Now Christmas is looming, its going to be tough to keep this belly where it is... too much food flying about. Its Ambers Birthday first then Christmas and Boxing Day. I am learning now to recognise when I am full, but both sides of our families make MASSIVE amounts of food I know I will end up offending by hardly making a dent in my food. Has to be done though.

How do you all survive the Christmas period? Do you eat then just work it off afterwards or eat less?

FOTD: Christmas Shopping!

I went shopping today to get the majority of my Christmas presents for family and their kids... is it just me or does anyone else find it really difficult to buy for their Grandfathers? 

We were going for Lunch then spending the rest of the day shopping, Im not sure Amber appreciated being in the buggy most of the time, but it had to be done! 

My face was pretty simple today, I didn't want to over do the eyes in case it rained (its been bucketing here lately) but we spent most of our time in Fairhill shopping centre, Ballymena is a great shopping spot though you can get everything you need in one place... Camerons. Most of Ambers Santa presents have been bought and more is on the way. Having her Birthday and Christmas so close together is such a hassle! 

Face

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B30

Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque

Bobbi Brown Concealer in Natural Tan

MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer in NC20

MAC MSF Natural in Medium Plus

NARS Bronzer in Laguna

MAC Blush in Plum Foolery

Eyes

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

MAC Eyeshadow, All that Glitters

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner, Zero

MAC Eyeshadow, Carbon

Estee Lauder Double Wear Mascara, Black

Korres Eyebrow Pencil in Medium Shade

Lips

ELF Lip conditioner in Peaceful Pink

Very simple and my makeup stayed put all day despite almost getting getting blown off my feet and rained upon, Double Wear mascara is great if you really need a mascara to stay put, but its a bitch to remove at the end of the night, I am not looking forward to that.

I am also loving plummy cheeks at the moment, the last few weeks I have been wearing Plum Foolery regularly.

I have to say though that my love for new makeup is dwindling... Absolutely nothing is catching my eye at the moment, it saddens me. My collection has grown so large though that I fear I might actually have to hit pan/finish something to regain my love and excitement of buying something new. I am enjoying using products in my collection though that I originally overlooked. 

Hows your Christmas shopping going? Have you even started? x

Current Workout DVD's

As a bit of  follow up to my 30 Day Ab Challenge, I thought I would do some quick reviews of some workout DVD's that I have on rotation at the moment and that I am absolutely loving!

Jillian Michaels

Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism

This is basically my cardio workout, I have only had this DVD for just over a week but in that time I have used it around three times. The first time I did it, it was so tough, like I was almost ready to pass out it was that bad. I have next to no cardio fitness to speak of so I think I found it more difficult than it should have been. I had to take around 4 puffs of my inhaler just to get through it! I did it though and I felt much better for it.

Jillians method in this DVD is a lot different, and better than, the 30 Day Shred, for one thing its twice as long (40 mins). She focuses a lot more on cardio using mainly kickboxing moves together with squats and no weights... yep... you use your own good old fashioned body weight to whip you into shape. 

I can hear my heart in my ears, I am sweating like I have never sweated before and my lung capacity seems to have got bigger after the third time of doing this, it doesnt seem so much of a struggle, but its definitely still a struggle. A winner in my books and cardio is best for weight loss so I am hoping I will shed a few pounds while keeping fit.

Also something to mention... when I do this workout, I am absolutely STARVING by the end of it. The first time I worked out to this, I honestly couldn't seem to fill my belly. I worked out in the morning and I ate over 2000 calories during the course of the day, there wasn't enough fruit and veg in the house at the time so I resulted to a lot of carbs, probably the worst thing when im trying to not bloat out so much. So now I do it in the evening and have a really good breakfast.

Jillian Michaels

No More Trouble Zones

Another DVD that I have only had for a short period of time, I have used this once so there isn't much to report on, but there is plenty of weights, squats and Ab work used in this. This is a very good strength workout and one that I am dying to try again soon as I found that my muffin tops and arms benefited most. This is another very sweaty workout but it seems to be worth it, I don't want to do it too often though as I don't want to bulk up anywhere... man arms are not sexy to me! but at 37, Jillian looks amazing so I definitely trust her workouts.

Tracy Anderson

Mat Workout

I save the best for last. Honestly the best workout that I have ever found!  Tracy uses your own body weight and hits you with completely different rotations that your not used to. Her goal is to pull in all of your larger muscles and use your smaller muscles instead to create a longer, leaner figure like a dancer would have.

First she warms you up with some ballet moves which aren't difficult at all then you move onto the leg portion where you stand behind a chair and do different leg lifts. It can get quite monotonous though, but if you keep your whole body moving and not just your legs it gets a lot easier and fun to do. Next is a standing Ab portion which is AMAZING. you basically move your abs about like your dancing, moving your ribs from side to side... its hard to describe but it really works! 

The arms! oh god the arms... I have never experienced a burn like it! theres no bicep curls or triceps used, instead its just keeping your arms up in a "T" and moving them all about in different directions and dancing movements. My advice if you get this DVD is to keep your arms up, it really pays off *pain is temporary!*, also move your lower body as much as you can, it makes keeping your arms up a lot easier to cope with. She then moves onto an arm portion with weights which is a lot easier, but still hard. 

Then you have a mat leg workout and then your abs, the abs are brilliant, it burns like mad but its so good afterwards my abs hurt so much the next day but at least I know my body is changing for the better. Tracy recommends that you do her workout 4-6 times a week to get the full benefit from it. As there is no cardio involved you dont have to wait aaaages after dinner to avoid a stitch, so its easy to take 40 minutes out of your day to do this.

Fitness isn't exactly my thing, I don't really know much about it, but I am slowly learning new things. Im sorry these reviews don't go into any technical detail, but I would definitely recommend these DVD's for general fitness and even weight loss.

30 Day Ab Challenge!

Following my latest post, I will be taking part in a 30 Day Ab Challenge that I literally just found out about this morning! I hopped onto Thru The Blue and learnt all I could about it.

Basically its a 30 day Challenge to motivate you and make commitments along the way to firm up your abs or just to lose a bit of weight. People are posting "Before" pictures and also motivational pictures to help them along the way and I will be doing the same!

here is my Before picture:

I am hoping that posting this will motivate me more to achieve my goals, you are all following so I have no excuse!

My commitments will be:

1. To workout at least 5 times a week, cardio and strength along with yoga.

2. I will not make exceptions, as soon as my daughter goes to bed, I start working out.

3. I will be cutting down on carbs, but not cutting them out all together… im from Ireland, its impossible :p

4. I will stop eating junk food and getting take outs, instead I will cook healthy versions at home.

5. I will be getting more active with my daughter, going for plenty of walks and getting out and about.

6. I will go to bed earlier, a 12am bedtime is not acceptable for me.

7. Eat more raw fruits and vegetables.

8. I don’t normally drink alcohol, but my massive cups of tea around 4 times a day aren’t good, so green tea it will be from now on!

9. I will eat a healthy breakfast EVERY morning.

10. I will look after myself and not over do it, getting myself injured or ill wont help me any.

Short but sweet and they are realistic for me, I don't want to make all these massive claims that I am going to struggle with and fall at the first hurdle.

Motivational Picture!!

This is Tracy Anderson, her body is perfect to me! I am sure there is some air brushing there, but I just think her body looks so feminine and not bulky.

Are you taking part in the 30 Day Challenge?! Link me to your posts!

Getting my ass into gear.

Lately I have been feeling absolutely horrible, having just got over the flu and just generally feeling really lazy the past few months/years I thought it was time to actually think about my general fitness and well being. I have been letting myself go since Amber was born, nearly 2 years of not doing any excersise and thinking that I could still eat whatever I wanted.

This is me around 3 years ago before I fell pregnant.
Height: 5ft3
Weight: 6.7stone, 42kg or 94lbs




I always felt I was a little too thin, but I always ate whatever I wanted and could never put any weight on no matter how hard I tried. Peoples comments of "oh I feel like I'm going to break you" or "do you not eat?" really got me down, you would never say to a larger person "do you ever stop eating?" would you now?

Once I became pregnant and didn't know it, I thought finally my metabolism was slowing down, but no I just had a baby belly. while I was pregnant I literally ate for two which was totally the wrong thing to do, I went from a mere 6 Stone 7lbs to 10stone 9lbs in the course of 9 months... Only around 8.8lbs of that was actual baby at the end. once I had Amber and lost all my water retention I was down to around 9 stone

After seeing a recent picture of myself after a meal out with a few friends I was actually horrified how much I didn't look like me any more.

Weight: 8.5 Stone, 120lbs or 54kg




I actually look like I have boobs...

Fair enough I am wearing a patterned top but I just look incredibly wide. My face, neck and chest look quite big for me. I simply just don't feel like me any more and I've lost some confidence along the way.

So now it's time to bust out the fitness DVD's and lose some of this flab and get some toning going on. I never want to go back to my former self, but I want to lose around 10-11lbs just to feel better about myself and my body. But I probably won't go by what weight I am, but how I look and feel about myself (without going overboard).

I hate the gym so all of my weight loss and toning is going to be done at home. Eating properly and regular excersise is key for me I think. Some of the DVD's I am currently breaking in are:





Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred





The Tracy Anderson Method Mat Workout.





Zumba Toning and Cardio.

I also have an Eliptical Trainer which I will use in the mornings. I have also purchased a few more DVD's that I can't wait to use. Once Amber goes to bed its workout central in my house!

I will do some reviews on the DVD's to see how they are working for me.

Do any of you follow fitness DVD's or do you prefer the gym?

W7 Mega Matte Lip Gloss.

After reading Perfectly Polished blog on 'The Matte Factor Liquid Lipsticks' from Miners it struck some curiosity in me and made me want them immediately. After trawling their website for these beautiful colours, I had to give up, I couldnt find them. So I did a bit of a search and a few blogs turned up with the W7 Mega Matte Lipglosses. I found them on Fragrance Direct for £1.99 each. Bargain!

Here they are!

Red

Coral

 Rose

They feel so great on the lips, not drying and they wear off very evenly through a cup of coffee and a chinese meal. Just don't put a lipgloss over the top... they crack and go a bit gunky looking, but they are perfect if you are after a matte lip... its what their designed for after all!

I had to make the shade names up by the way as there is no shade names on the tubes, strange! I have noticed there is a lot of different names for each shade... so whatever, I will go for the simple names! :)

Do you love a matte lip or are you a bit of a gloss person?

YSL Rouge Voluptes in Rose Culte and Provocative Pink!

Cheapsmells.com were doing a deal a while back on YSL Rouge Voluptes for £13.95 so I had to jump at the chance to order a couple and see what all the fuss was about.

I dont suit nude colours, I just find they really wash me out and I look a bit dead even with tan on, so I opted for two bright colours instead. Tommy doesnt like either of them... so I need your opinions on whether these suit me or not, and please be brutally honest!

Rose Culte

Provocative Pink

These are sooooo creamy! They just slide onto my lips and give such a massive colour pay off with one swipe. They wear really well too, well they practically stain my lips so they wear off evenly and last through 2 cups of tea!

What do you think? Do they suit me or should I have chosen a bit more wisely? Do you have any of these shades?

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre: Epatant

At the moment I am craving green eyeshadows and once I had heard about the new Chanel Autumn range, I had to check out the new Illusion D'Ombre colours. I had read a few reviews on these before making a purchase and I decided to go for the colour Epatant which is a green/silver/taupe shade. Hard to describe but here it is!

The texture of these is unlike anything I have ever tried. They feel cool like a liquid, feels like a mousse and a powder all in one go. It feels absolutely gorgeous though! It comes with a small brush to use, but I prefer to apply cream products with my fingers on my eyes as it gives the biggest colour payoff.

Here is a quick FOTD using Epatant with satin taupe in the outer corner and crease and carbon on the upper lash line. 

It looks a bit glittery, but I hate glitter and this looks to me a bit more metallic. Theres no fall out throughout the day which is a major plus for me!

Epatant is a dream to blend and blends very well with other shadows. Its great for the day as well as night, its a gorgeous shade of green. It lasts all day without creasing on me, but I tend to always wear an eyeshadow primer no matter what I have on my eyes, its just second nature now!

 I will hopefully be purchasing Illusoire which is a purple shade or Mirifique, the black. Can anyone recommend which one to get?!


Did any of you purchase an Illusion D'Ombre?!

FOTD: Wannabe Blade Runner

I have wanted NARS eyeshadow duo in Blade Runner for the longest time, after trawling the internet for hours I realised that I have similar colours in my collection.

For reference, this image was taken from Temptalia

The colours are more like a blackened emerald green and a mahogany/copper shade. Perfect for the autumn months coming in! So I hunted out the palette I used in my last FOTD from Estee Lauder and got to work.

Face

MAC Studio Fix Fluid NC30

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Bobbi Brown Concealer Natural Tan

Korres Multi Vitamin Powder MV2

NARS Laguna Bronzer

Estee Lauder Nude Nuance Blush

HD Brows Ash Brown

Eyes

Estee Lauder Sage Duo (the darkest green)

Estee Lauder Copper Penny

Estee Lauder Chocolate

MAC FLuidline Blacktrack

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Zero

Estee Lauder Double Wear Curling Mascara

Lips

Estee Lauder Lipstick in Elizabeth Pink

Here is a picture in daylight

Close enough to the colours of Blade Runner dont you think?! The Sage Duo you can still get from Lauder by the way, but in their new range of colours there is a very dark emerald green which would have been a closer match than the Sage duo in my eyes.

This green and copper pairing is a welcome change to my usual browns and neutral colours.

Do you have any favourite colours for Autumn/Winter?

FOTD: Mocha Cup

I rediscovered an old Estee Lauder Palette that I have and in it is one of my most favourite eyeshadow colours Mocha Cup. It is unfortunately part of their old line of eyeshadows, but I think you can still get it in outlet places like their CCO or other websites. It is a beautiful all over lid colour and looks AMAZING on blue eyed folk. its a shimmery blue-brown colour, its just love.

Face

MAC Studio Fix Fluid NC30

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Bobbi Brown Concealer Beige

Korres Matt Powder in MV2

NARS Laguna Bronzer

MAC Stereo Rose MSF

Korres Eyebrow Pencil in Medium Shade

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Eyeshadow in Mocha Cup

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Eyeshadow in Honey Drop

MAC Fluidline in Dipdown

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Whiskey

Benefit They're Real Mascara

Lips

MAC Lipstick in Sweetie

I looooove this shade, it looks so good on, but looks like nothing in the pan. Its a beautiful duo-chrome colour.

Is there any other great duo colours I need to try?!

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation Review

If you have been a long term reader of mine, you will know how much I love foundations. In my eyes if you don't have a great base the rest of your makeup just doesn't quite fall into place. I am always on the lookout for the best foundations out there to give me the best base possible. Recently I purchased my first Chanel foundation and Hanna (@girlabouttownx) requested a review of it, so here you go!

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in shade B30 Beige Sable

As always, here is my 'before' picture, bare faced with a bit of self tan on it.

Sorry about that...

I had heard that the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation was quite watery, but to me it wasnt watery at all! You definitely need to give it a shake as it tends to separate, but to me its more like a gel texture than a watery one. The packaging states that this foundation works best when applied with fingers so I gave that a go first, even though I hate using my fingers to apply foundation.

The texture as I described is more of a gel texture, but it is so lightweight that I have to tan my face under it or it will basically take to the colour my skin is underneath. The colour I have here is B30 Beige Sable and my skin is around an NC30 at the moment with fake tan on.

Applied with fingers. 2 layers.

As I suspected I didnt like applying it with my fingers. Dont get me wrong, its a beautiful texture and blends evenly, but for me it just doesnt give the coverage that I like. If you have perfect skin, this method is for you!

Next I took off all the foundation and then applied it with my Crown Duo Fibre stippling brush, similar to the MAC 187.

Applied with a stippling brush. 2 layers.

Just the right amount of coverage that I love, making me look flawless without looking cakey. Theres a gorgeous glow from within that doesnt look at all greasy to start with. Throughout the day it does tend to look a little bit greasy around the sides of my nose and chin, even though I dont get greasy there with any other foundations. That was a bit of a disappointment, but a bit of blotting powder solved that easily. I would say this would be geared more towards the Normal/ Dry skin types as an oily skin type might notice a lot of oil breaking through. 

The great thing about Vitalumiere Aqua is that it doesn't break me out! So many have in the past, clogging up my pores and making me look horrible, but this one is perfect, great for the days out shopping etc. I wouldnt wear this for a night out though, a bit too luminous and not full coverage enough for me!

I finished this foundation off with a bit of Korres Matt powder, some bronzer and blush and there you have it! You can also see my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua FOTD here where my skin is an NC20/25 showing that even if I dont have as much tan on, it will still blend easily and doesnt look out of place.

Have any of you tried this foundation yet? What did you think of it?